Building up others
Neuro-oncology social worker Jennifer St. Clair helps patients from bedside to finish line

Jan. 30, 2025 — No matter how daunting the task, University of Florida neuro-oncology social worker Jennifer St. Clair, LCSW, OSW-C, is someone who takes the reins, pulling what might seem like impossible visions into reality.
From the large scale — like launching a 5K event that’s raised more than $170,000 for UF Health patients with brain tumors — to the individual level — like helping a 24-year-old patient with physical disabilities from her brain tumor find a sense of belonging at a retreat — St. Clair is driven by a relentless desire to push the limits to help others.
“Jennifer is constantly smiling, and making others smile, while outperforming every expectation as she simultaneously looks for even more opportunities to help,” said John Lybarger, M.P.H., CCRC, an associate director for clinical research in the Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery in the UF College of Medicine who supervises her.
St. Clair stumbled into her passion. Fresh out of college, she took a job as a case manager and court advocate at a domestic violence shelter. After earning an undergraduate degree in French, political science, and international studies, it wasn’t where she thought she would be.
“I thought I was going to work for the U.N., but they weren’t hiring out of southeastern Missouri,” she joked. “It’s probably one of the happiest accidents of my life.”
She soon earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and began working in child welfare. She later obtained her clinical license, which led her to a job on the pediatric brain tumor unit at Duke University Hospital. She’s been working in the brain tumor field for the past 15 years, the past eight at UF after her team, led by Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., associate director for translation and innovation at the UF Health Cancer Center, was recruited to build a dedicated program.
Today, St. Clair supports children and adult patients with brain tumors in both the inpatient and outpatient settings at UF Health, meeting them shortly after diagnosis, guiding them through brain tumor treatment, and directing them to other complementary services such as palliative care or oncofertility.

It’s a highly specialized role that requires being carefully tuned to the needs of a unique patient population, where everything from the treatment setting to the rarity to the staging is different from other cancers.
With the community’s support, St. Clair and her team work tirelessly to ease the physical and emotional burdens.
“Our kids have to come see us constantly — we want them to look forward to it because they’re going to have to sit in a chair for five hours getting chemo with mom and maybe a sibling sitting next to them,” she said. “It has to be fun, positive, upbeat. When you’re having a hard day or your kids are having a hard day and you can go grab a toy that someone donated and you put a smile on their face for five seconds, you know it doesn’t fix anything, but everybody breathes a little easier for five minutes.”
The adage is true, she said: “Pediatric cancer is the best club you never want to be a part of.”
St. Clair also rises to the challenge in larger ways. Noticing a need, she applied for and received a $2,500 grant to buy antinausea bracelets for patients at risk of having to stop their treatment due to chemo-induced nausea and vomiting.
Perhaps her most significant endeavor has been organizing the Cancer Chomp, a joy-filled 5K event. St. Clair wanted it to be more than a run, with vendors specifically for brain tumor patients, from foundations to groups that can build home wheelchair ramps.

“I always have people reaching out saying we have this great, free program, but at any given time I have somewhere around 500-plus brain tumor patients in treatment, or survivors no longer in treatment, so it’s not easy,” she said. “I felt like my families were missing out.” And she wanted to raise money to meet the immediate needs of patients, like hotels, gas, copays, and medical equipment.
Initially, she doubted whether she was the one to take the lead. But when no one else materialized, St. Clair stepped forward. There were plenty of challenges, like figuring out how to get a permit for a run, and at the inaugural event in 2022, she was filled with doubt. She need not have worried: More than 250 people came, raising more than $50,000.
“Our community’s been very generous and because of it none of our patients go without lodging for any of their treatments and we’ve been able to buy equipment and extra stuff like vision aids,” she said. “Being able to do this for the families helps me balance out those heavier emotional things.”
St. Clair, who will take on a national leadership role this spring as a board member of the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers, wants to grow the Cancer Chomp, this year set for Oct. 25. She also wants to create an endowment that would cover all costs not covered by insurance for every UF pediatric brain tumor patient. She knows it may seem impossible, but that’s never held her back.
Families and patients know they have an ally they count on.
“Jennifer St. Clair is the person you want in your corner if you are battling a brain tumor,” Lybarger said.